EXLIBRIS  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


JOHN  HENRY  NASH  LIBRARY 

<$>  SAN  FRANCISCO 

PRESENTED  TO  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

ROBERT  GORDON  SPROUL, PRESIDENT. 


MR.ANDMRS.MILTON  S.RAV 

CECILY,  VIRGINIA  AND  ROSALYN  RAY 


RAY  OIL  BURNER  COMPANY 


THAN  A  TO  PS  IS. 


G.    P.    PUTNAM  S    SONS!      NEW  YORK, 


THE   ILLUSTRATIONS 

-  INDEBTEDNESS  acknowledged  to  David  Scott  and 
William  Blake  and  (almost  unknown  as  an  artist)  Isaac 
Taylor,  the  author  of  The  Natural  History  of  Enthusiasm, 
The  Physical  Theory  of  Another  Life,  etc. — 

Designed  and  engraved  by  \V.  J.  LlNTON. 


THANATOPSIS. 


HT^O  HIM  who  in  the  love  of  nature   holds 
-^-     Communion    with     her    visible    forms,    she 

speaks 

A  various  language  ;  for  his  gayer  hours 
She  has  a  voice  of  gladness,  and  a  smile 
And  eloquence  of  beauty,    and  she  glides 
Into  his  darker  musings,  with  a  mild 
And  healing  sympathy,  that  steals  away 
Their  sharpness,  ere  he  is  aware.     When  thoughts 


Under  the  open  sky. 


Of  the  last  bitter  hour  come  like  a  blight 
Over  thy  spirit,  and  sad  images 
Of  the  stern  agony,  and  shroud,  and  pall, 
And  breathless  darkness,  and  the  narrow  house, 
Make  thee  to  shudder,  and  grow  sick  at  heart  ;— 
Go  forth,  under  the  open  sky,  and  list 
To  Nature's  teachings,  while  from  all  around — 
Earth  and  her  waters,  and  the  depths  of  air- 
Comes  a  still  voice — Yet  a  few  days,  and  thee 
The  all-beholding  sun  shall  see  no  more 
In  all  his  course  ;  nor  yet  in  the  cold  ground, 


In  the  cold  ground. 


Where  thy  pale  form  is  laid, with  many  tears, 

Nor  in  the  embrace  of  ocean,  shall  exist 

Thy  image.     Earth,  that  nourish'd  thee,  shall  claim 

Thy  growth  to  be  resolved  to  earth  again, 

And,  lost  each  human  trace,  surrendering  up 

Thine  individual  being,  shalt  thou  go 

To  mix  forever  with  the  elements,— 

To  be  a  brother  to  the  insensible  rock, 

And  to  the  sluggish  clod,  which  the  rude  swain 

Turns  with  his  share,  and  treads  upon.     The  oak 

Shall  send  his  roots  abroad,  and  pierce  thy  mould. 


Resolved  to  earth  again. 


Yet  not  to  thine  eternal  resting-place 
Shalt  thou  retire  alone — nor  couldst  thou  wish 
Couch  more  magnificent.     Thou  shalt  lie  down 
With  patriarchs  of  the  infant  world — with  kings, 
The  powerful  of  the  earth — the  wise,  the  good, 
Fair  forms,  and  hoary  seers   of  ages  past, 
All  in  one  mighty  sepulchre. — The  hills 
Rock-ribb'd,  and  ancient  as  the  sun, — the  vales 
Stretching  in  pensive  quietness  between ; 
The  venerable  woods — rivers  that  move 
In  majesty,  and  the  complaining  brooks 


(Unto  dust  shalt  thou  return. — Gen.  3:  19.) 


That  make  the  meadows  green  ;  and,  pour'd  round 
Old  Ocean's  grey  and  melancholy  waste,—          [all, 
Are  but  the  solemn  decorations  all 
Of  the  great  tomb  of  man.     The  golden  sun, 
The  planets,  all  the  infinite  host  of  heaven, 
Are  shining  on  the  sad  abodes  of  death, 
Through  the  still  lapse  of  ages.     All  that  tread 
The  globe  are  but  a  handful  to  the  tribes 
That  slumber  in  its  bosom. — Take  the  wings 
Of  morning,  and  the  Barcan  desert  pierce, 
Or  lose  thyself  in  the  continuous  woods 
Where  rolls  the  Oregon,  and  hears  no  sound 
Save  his  own  dashings — yet  the  dead  are  there  ; 


Old  ocean's  grey  and  melancholy  -waste. 


Sgglg^J" '''i^  *       .    I* 


And  millions  in  those  solitudes,  since  first 

The  flight  of  years  began,  have  laid  them  down 

In  their  last  sleep — the  dead  reign  there  alone. 

So  shalt  thou  rest, — and  what  if  thou  withdraw 
In  silence  from  the  living — and  no  friend 
Take  note  of  thy  departure  ?     All  that  breathe 
Will  share  thy  destiny.     The  gay  will  laugh 
When  thou  art  gone,  the  solemn  brood  of  care 
Plod  on,  and  each  one,  as  before,  will  chase 


The  dead  reign  there. — Exodus  12  :  30. 


His  favorite  phantom  :  yet  all  these  shall  leave 

Their  mirth  and  their  employments,  and  shall  come 

And  make  their  bed  with  thee.     As  the  long  train 

Of  ages  glide  away,  the  sons  of  men, 

The  youth  in  life's  green  spring,  and  he  who  goes 

In  the  full  strength  of  years,  matron  and  maid, 

The  speechless  babe,  and  the  grey-headed  man,— 

Shall  one  by  one  be  gather'd  to  thy  side, 

By  those  who,  in  their  turn,  shall  follow  them. 

So  live,  that  when  thy  summons  comes  to  join 
The  innumerable  caravan,  that  moves 
To  that  mysterious  realm,  where  each  shall  take 
His  chamber  in  the  silent  halls  of  death, 


The  Shadow  of  Death. 


Thou  go  not,  like  the  quarry-slave  at  night 
Scourged  to  his  dungeon,  but,  sustain'd  and  soothed 
By  an  unfaltering  trust,  approach  thy  grave, 
Like  one  who  draws  the  drapery  of  his  couch 
About  him,  and  lies  down  to  pleasant  dreams. 


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